Friday, September 28, 2012

Expo 21st September 25

Sterling Ruby:

Before sitting in on Sterling Ruby’s discussion with Todd
Levin, I knew relatively little of the artist. I was vaguely aware of his
sculptures, assembled from unconventional materials placed within white cube
spaces, but that was about all. Whilst little of this Expo discussion was
actually based on the artist’s physical work, I now feel that I have a far
greater framework in which to contemplate his work. This is thanks to the fact
that Ruby and Levin’s conversation was so filled with personal content.

Accounts of Ruby’s interests in skateboarding, punk/metal
music, as well as his time spent working on construction sites shed a whole new
light on many of his sculptures that could be read as formalist. His use of
plastic pipes, wood, metal sheets; all covered in spray marks with worn down
edges are clearly materials from a world that is his. A world very much outside
of the gallery spaces that these works are shown in. The importance of this
aspect of his work is emphasized by his interest in transversality and
Guattari- from what I can remember this is to do with the power of identity
limitations. Ruby summed up this theory and the influence of his tutor with an
anecdote of his first class: the way the artists and critics were told to be
either artist or critics and not try to resemble an amalgamation of the two.
Ruby in his work is clearly bringing much of his identity into his work through
his choice of materials.

I also found the fact that he never received his degree an
interesting topic. I rather wish he had maybe gone into it in a bit more depth,
due to the fact that this again appears to be a conflict Ruby encountered with
the institutional environment versus he himself as more-than-an-artist.
Unsurprisingly we weren’t told much as I guess such a detail is probably more
personal than an Expo talk requires, however, it was suggested that it was due
to a discrepancy with his written submission- I was lead to believe that it was
tied into his thesis statement. I am not sure what the requirements were,
however, Ruby was clearly engaged in the course, producing a large body of work
and willing to discuss his thesis topic with the tutors. Hence, what could be
so ludicrous or offensive by his proposed subject of enquiry?! I have a
personal interest in the way art institutions simultaneously nurture yet mould
artists and think that would have been an interesting point for the discussion
to expand upon.

Generally, however, I really enjoyed the talk. I feel I have
a far greater knowledge of Sterling Ruby as artist than prior to it. I only
wish that there had been more time for the conversation to develop into a more
rigorous look at Ruby’s practice itself. It would have been great to hear the
artist himself relate his life experiences to his work, as I do find myself second-guessing
a tad.

10 works with colour:

“Fake Death Picture (The Death of Chatterton-Henry Wallis)”
by Yinka Shonibare

This piece by Shonibare consists of a contrast between the
bright, saturated, culturally significant colours of Chatterton’s clothes and
the far darker, less vivid, cooler colours of his period surroundings. This
contrast of colour and print sets up the cultural difference between the
African and British handling of colour within design.

“Michellle, Rome,” 2011 by Alec Soth

The colours in this photo are all allied yet it is the clear
difference in value between the ceiling and the rest of the photograph that
makes it striking, it being a much more saturated pink. The photo of the blond
woman follows second in saturation and finds itself roughly head height in
relation to the spout of the tap, which is situated around the pelvis. This set
up made me view the photo head to toe.

“Ice Fiord leading to Jakoabshvn Glacier #1” 2008 by Terry
Evans

This photo by Evans consists of a mixture of warm and cool
colours. The Glacier, predominantly shades of white is surrounded by a pool of
water of varying tones of green, the relationship of these two make the water a
focus. The ground in contrast is much warmer with a yellow tinge.

This series of paintings by Paul Cowan, were a piece, which
attracted me from a distance. There bright, near fluorescent yellow was
unavoidable to the eye. From a distance I thought the bright purple marks were
indeed black, it was only when I got closer that I realized that in fact they
just appeared black as the contrast was so strong between the complementary pair
that they had been completely overwhelmed by the dominant yellow. The red
strokes however really stood out, as their saturation was relatively much
stronger than the yellow backdrops.

”The Archive Revisited: Pigs” by Philippe
van Shik

This piece was a photo of pigs over-laid with a grey and a
black rectangle of a similar hue to the photo itself. The grey is sandwiched
between a blue and orange rectangle. The orange being brighter and more intense
than the blue, a contrasting complementary, draws the eye first and then it
moves onto the blue guiding the eye. The positioning of the grey rectangle
means that the eye produces a modulation of greys ranging from those of blue to
orange tones along its length.

“Golden Escalator, Tokyo” by Michael Eastman

This piece is an example of a piece with strong temperature
difference. The ceiling/ upper part of the photo is warm with colours of deep
orange to yellow. Whilst the escalators are far cooler with tones of blue and
violet. This contrast gives us the feeling of ascension I believe the artist
desired.

“Yellow, Yellow” by Rachel Whiteread

Whitread’s sculpture here is an example of carefully chosen
allied colours. The casts of the inside of cups, boxed and cardboard tubes are
all of a similar value and intensity. The yellow cup on the left is an
exception, along with its different, stockier, shape it acts as a sort of
initial draw and a point to relate the other shapes to.

“Resisted Array”Liam Gillick

Within Gillick’s piece we have examples of allied colours
paired with a complementary colour, which adds a punch, giving the works more
depth.

”Life Magazine, April 19th,
1989” by Alfredo Jaar

This piece by Jaar consists of a standard photo of a busy
street at a normal value. In the other two duplications the colour of the
original photo is a lot lighter but are then overlaid with much more intense
black dots first, these are in place of the faces of all those in the crowd. In
the second duplication only a couple of faces are marred in red dots. The cultural
associations with red indicate that these figures labeled as red must be of
higher importance within the context of this work.

“Coded Spectrum 2011” by Leo Villareal

This work is basically a glorification of colour theory. The
light boxes colours shift through the spectrum, varying saturation, intensity,
value and temperature demonstrating the beauty in varying harmonies. The fact
light boxes are used gives the colour a greater intensity and therefore appeal.